49,993
by Lanilen
Summary: "If you're hearing this, then there is still hope. Hope that you can avoid the same mistakes we made. We fought the Reapers, but we failed to stop them." Those were the words of Doctor Liara T'Soni. But Commander John Shepard isn't the type to give up just because all sentient life in the Galaxy has been destroyed. Pilot Chapter, on hiatus until 2013 while I finish other projects.


_I am awake._

A singular thought that summed up the entirety of his existence. Consciousness. Next came awareness.

_I am John Shepard_.

Layers upon layers were added to his sense of self. He was human. He was a Spectre. N7 special forces program. Disembodied consciousness and memories. Earth. Comrades. The Normandy. The collectors. And a suicide mission. That was his last stored memory. His core boot process was now complete.

_Boot process? I can't feel anything. What's going on?_

"_Shepard-Commander._"

That was not a thought of his own. Databank retrieval quickly produced a name from his own memory banks.

_Legion_. His thoughts raced at the speed of light.

"_Yes._"

_What's going on?_ A second thought immediately followed the first. The last step of his self-awareness awakening. _I am an AI._

"_Yes._"

He found no trouble accepting it. It was already part of his programming. _Okay, what's happening?_

"_Shepard-Commander has become operational. This unit has become operational. Primary boot has been successful. Secondary boot will allow Shepard-Commander to enter simulated human functions and assume control of the facility._"

_Simu-_ His thoughts were interrupted as the universe sped up around him. He was still not human enough to miss that it was his internal clock slowing his thoughts down to human levels. A feeling of loss nearly overcame him, but was soon pushed aside as his simulated human nature took over.

He could feel his body. It was several meters across, with a single access terminal and several screens displaying information. Information he didn't have. Cameras came to life and started picking up what was around the chamber, making a complex image that was projected in his mind as a stereoscopic vision from the console point of view.

_Do I really have a mind? This is fucking weird._

The microphones came to life too, and his glowing human-like projected holographic body appeared on top of the access terminal.

"Shuu-ha gruuu hutktk guuuu."

He looked down. The head of his holographic body looked down, and the cameras followed his thoughts. The multiple body experience was not as confusing as he thought at first. He could get used to it.

"What the hell, who are you people?" his voice demanded over the intercom of his console.

Two aliens were standing in front of him. Humanoid aspect (one of those great mysteries of the Universe, how many sentient species evolved into a humanoid shape in one way or another). Green skin of uneven tones (one of them was darker than the other). A nose; no, a protuberance that was more like a muzzle, only it was quite short, but it gave a similar aspect to a nose, and a heck of an overbite. For human standards at least. Two eyes, standard for stereoscopic vision, and what looked to be ears on the side of the head. Looked like they had vertical pupils, and they both had dark red ones. They wore clothes covering them from neck to toe, a shiny tight fitting fabric, two straps across their chests holding a bag each. Shape similar to mammalians, and he ventured that the larger one was actually a female. Had to be five feet tall at best. Four and a half for the other. No hair, but the female had something akin to feathers – very thin white feathers – on her head.

They were talking to each other; and to him. And he couldn't understand a word they were saying.

"Well, this is going to be a problem."

A familiar voice interrupted him. He turned, and saw a more familiar projection on the main holographic console in the center of the room.

"If you're hearing this, then there is still hope."

"Liara," Shepard muttered.

"Hope that you can avoid the same mistakes we made," the holographic recording continued. "We fought the Reapers, but we failed to stop them. We did everything we could. We built the Crucible but it didn't work. We fought as a united galaxy but it wasn't enough. I only hope the information in this capsule is enough to help you before it's too late. My name is Doctor Liara T'Soni. Herein lies the recounting of our war with the Reapers."

The aliens were now silent, looking at both Shepard and Liara, alternating between one and the other as if they expected something unfathomable to happen.

"Legion," Shepard called. The aliens made a start, his voice had recovered its commanding tone.

"_Shepard-Commander_," Legion's thoughts came to his mind.

"Is that true? We lost?"

"_Yes._"

"If we lost..." He looked at the aliens, and was puzzled by the sinking feeling in his non-existent stomach. "When did that happen?"

"_It has been 49,993 years since this facility was constructed._"

"Well, shit."

The aliens looked at each other, made an exchange he didn't understand, and the male unslung the bag on his back and started rummaging through it, walking towards Shepard's console. Shepard spotted four fingers. Short feet, humanoid-like; he had almost expected them to be more bird-like given the feathers.

When the male alien pulled something he couldn't distinguish out of the bag and thrust it towards the console, Shepard pulled out his guns. Two of them, two cannons mounted on retractable platforms on both sides of his console. The second they popped out of the ground, they pointed at the alien.

He stopped in his tracks just as the female shouted something. He didn't have to know the words to recognize a shouted "_watch out!_" in any language in history. The male alien looked at both weapons, then at Shepard, and _very_ slowly, raised what he had in his hands. A small cube with a display, and what appeared to be some connectors.

_Is that going to interface with me? Legion, what do you think?_

"_We don't know._"

Shepard pointed at the box. The alien looked at him, and after thinking for a few seconds, raised his free hand to his mouth. He placed it so that his fingers looked like they were coming out of his mouth, and moved them.

_Speech patterns. That could be useful._

Shepard raised his weapons, but didn't hide them away. The female said something again, but the male made a gesture with his hand on his head, and continued with what he had been planning. In a few minutes he had the front access panel dismantled. He managed to establish a connection with optic fiber, but Shepard couldn't understand any of the code.

_Any chance you can do something Legion?_

"_We are establishing a consensus,_" Legion's answer came.

"Wonderful," he muttered. The alien looked up at Shepard when he spoke, and the Commander shook his head, a gesture the alien didn't understand at all. He tried a second time, gesturing with his hands for the alien to back away, and this time he did so.

When he was far enough, the female rushed to his side and started muttering something to the male's ear. Shepard grinned, now _that_ was universal language if he ever saw it.

There was nothing to do but wait, but it wasn't long before the wait was interrupted. The room started trembling as the crashing sound of explosions came from overhead. The aliens jumped up and looked to be in a state of near panic, and it became even worse when the door to the underground chamber, closed and thick plasteel it was, looked to be on the receiving end of a rather powerful attack. They screamed, ran around like headless chickens, and finally, despite their obvious fear, ran to hide behind Shepard's console – and guns.

_This should be interesting. How is the decoding going?_

"_Estimated fourteen minutes,_" Legion replied.

The door didn't last that long. It twisted, cracked, melted in the middle, and was finally forced open. A large robotic guest made its way in, followed with half a dozen quadruped robots. The larger one looked to be simply the older brother of the smaller ones. Four L-shaped legs in a cross pattern, one simple looking armored body in the middle of the cross, four arms – and all of them holding guns – and oval heads with a single lens that spun around freely on the neck.

His two guns rose and pointed at the intruders. Two more rose from each side of the now destroyed door, and pointed in the same directions. Two more dropped from the ceiling on either side of the robotic group. The aliens raised their guns, and spoke in what sounded like the same language the other aliens were using, only with a flat, artificial tone to it.

"Great. AI. Figures. Okay, none of you can understand me. But anyone moves until I can understand what the hell it is you're saying, and I start shooting."

The robots had frozen in place. One of them ventured a step forward, and Shepard opened fire with the two overhead cannons, hitting the ground about a meter in front of it. It stopped moving.

_Legion? How is that coming along?_

"_Seconds. Thirty-seven._"

_I'd rather not kill everyone just yet. _


End file.
